In other news, a letter to the to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), RSA chief exec Sam Waide said the authority could not attend a scheduled appearance at the PAC partly due to “operational priorities.” Catherine Murphy TD was livid.

The Irish Examiner today has a feature on ageism in the workplace, a worldwide phenomenon, while experts say older people have higher levels of emotional intelligence and critical thinking and lower levels of absenteeism than younger workers.

The Indo reports that a report has recommended that RTÉ’s accounts be put under the scrutiny of the Comptroller and Auditor General, while the Government is to publish three reports into RTÉ’s culture, governance, human resources, finance and barter account next week.

Writing in the Irish Times, John Fitzgerald says an attempt to buy the next election with a giveaway budget would be a" gross miscalculation" while "spending more money would add to inflation without making us better off, whatever about its effects on voting behaviour," he says.

There's news also that the vast majority of posts on Twitter/'X' last week -  concerning the anti-immigration protests in Newtownmountkennedy - came from outside Ireland.

Finally, new research presented to the Oireachtas says the costs of Irish unification would equal the worst of the effects of the austerity years between 2009 and 2011 and last for considerably longer. 

Zen

The gifted New York musician Nora Brown plays a series of concerts around Ireland between the 10th and 21st May. Alas, I'll miss her show in Dublin as it clashes with conference in Killarney. Here's a little taste. 

Have a lovely and safe bank holiday weekend.

Niall